Dirty Thunderstorms This is lightning that comes after a volcanic eruption. Out of the world.Source: Chile Volcano Erupts With Ash and Lightning $23K Housewife Fantasy That's what housewives really earn if they live in a fantasy.Well, $23K is the high end. $8K is the low end. For the high end, I guess you're probably taking care of Donald Trump's kid. The numbers are abysmal.You're only worth as much as your next pay cheque. That being said, those HR executives should really help these housewives find these high paying jobs before sprouting such numbers out of their mouths. Besides, the numbers on the ST photo graphic doesn't add up to $23K. If you just want to single out certain jobs, please say that you're singling certain jobs out.It's very irritating to read these kind of stories where there's no concrete evidence and everything is just conjecture. Time Magazine Photo Essays Time Magazine online has one of the best collection of photo essays.www.time.com/time/photoessays Transport Overloading Due to the nature of my job, working hours are not your usual 8-5. As a result, I don't really have to squeeze with people on trains and buses during peak hours.Additionally, I prefer taking buses to trains when I feel like having a seat on my trip. Trains are typically crowded at all hours nowadays that unless you're at the interchange, you'll never see an empty train arriving.Trains are for people who like predictability in their travel routines.I dread the day when our train trips become something portrayed in the following video. Cool Infographics You'll be able to find a lot of cool infographics on this blog. This is especially useful for graphic journalists!Visit this website at http://coolinfographics.blogspot.com Mr Sanguine's Photo Essay One of my favourite photo essays website. Seems that the author/photographer is no longer updating his site.Visit this website at http://mrsanguine.blogspot.com/ Haunting Photo Essay of 911 One of the best photo essays I've ever seen.Source: 9/11 WTC Attack Photojournal (Set) Back From Reservist Going to reservist In-Camp Training is becoming a pain for me ever since I started treating time like gold.Today, 6 hours was wasted waiting for out-processing. That's just me. There were around 200 people. That's an equivalent of 50 full days wasted on doing nothing.Time is so f*****g cheap. smashingmagazine.com Bookmark this website immediately if you're a designer. This has one of the best collection of everything related to graphic design. Just look at the tabs to see what it offers.It updates regularly so you might want to subscribe to its RSS feed.www.smashingmagazine.com/ ilovetypography.com A beautiful website that talks about all things typography. Has lots of useful resources. It updates regularly so you might want to add its RSS feed.http://ilovetypography.com/ Is It Time for Macs to Go Corporate (Picture sourced from Flickr)This week's BW Cover Story podcast talks about the opportunity of Mac gaining corporate sales.Businessweek story: The Mac in the Gray Flannel Suit and the accompanying podcast download link.It's pretty easy to know the outcome if you know the principle of technology.Technology is all about saving time and money. So is using Mac in the office going to help you save time and money? And what are the alternatives out there compared to the Mac?Business needs require business software. Are there available software that your business needs? For example, if you're using Microsoft Office on a Windows computer, there is also a Mac equivalent version of Microsoft Office.Although Macs can run Windows, it will require an additional Windows license (think extra money!). You'll also have to boot up into Windows (think extra time!). If you constantly switch from Mac OS to Windows OS, your productivity will take a hit. Of course you can run Windows OS inside Mac OS via virtualisation, but note again you need to spend extra money again on the virtualisation software.So if you really need to switch from Windows OS to Mac OS frequently, don't get a Mac. You won't be saving time. Both Windows OS and Mac OS are pretty stable. But stability not a factor in deciding whether to buy. The factor is whether the stability will translate into time/cost savings. Do you see what I'm trying to say? All the features count for nought if they are unable to translate into time/cost savings.Some argue that Macs are more expensive. It's a very sound argument. Let's go back to the principle again. Is that expensive Macs going to help you save time and cost more than the less expensive computer?Note also that there are two variables, time and money. You'll value one more than the other. It's the reason why people pay more for cabs and some take the bus to work.If I were a CIO for a company, making purchasing decision will take seconds. Users of computers don't really care about anything else other than getting their job done, and done fast.I use a Windows computer at work. It used to be a Mac but it didn't support a particular software the new workflow required. The Killer Application in iPhone is Safari Safari is the web browser supplied by Apple for their computers and for the iPhone.Steve Jobs probably won't want you to install MSN onto the iPhone. But guess what, you can log on to MSN from Meebo.com! Meebo.com supports MSN, ICQ, Yahoo Messenger and etc! All these chat messengers on the web browser! Yes, you can now be online while you're at Starbucks!Want to work on your iPhone but can't install the applications you want? Now with Google Docs, you can work on word documents, presentations and even spreadsheets. But you probably won't want to do that on a small screen. But it's possible if you want to!Say you took a photo with the iPhone. You can fire up Flickr.com and instantly upload your photos onto the the Internet. Yes, instant publication and blogging!Given the tons of rich Internet applications out there, you can practically do anything with a web browser.You can download songs from Amazon.com. You can book cinema tickets online. You can find the best Laksa or Hokkien Mee on Google Maps. You can search up anything on Wikipedia. You can stream music from Last.fm.I can go on and on but I know you got my point. When Did The Negativity Creep In Had a very interesting talk with a friend yesterday over dinner. Our talk almost always consist of some business related topics. Let me highlight just one that I think is very interesting and true.We were talking about the negativity that surrounds Singaporeans when it comes to starting a business or making money.The first thing that comes to mind when I ask anyone about the possibility of starting a business would be cost. How much is it going to cost running the business? What's the startup cost? How much will it cost to run everything? I don't come from a rich background to fall back on when the business fails.See anything similar in the responses? All they think about are the forces that are out to take the business down. They don't even have time to stop and think for once about possibility of an opportunity. So adverse are Singaporeans to taking risk.The problems comes from social conditioning that our education system and parents have put upon us. Most of them will tell you to study hard, find a good and stable job for the rest of your lives. If it works for them, it'll work for you too. They'll give you examples of people who have studied hard and made good money. But they never tell you the examples of people who made it through to the top with little education. Even if they do, they'll say that those were the exceptions but do they encourage you to be an exception?After years of conditioning, or brainwashing, one naturally forgets that there are other paths to be taken in life. And this typically takes place when you're in secondary school and slightly later. In the university, if you're lucky, you'll get to meet speakers who actually have been in the world of business and speaks to you about their real life experiences. Everyone can see negativity so you practically have no advantage over others there. But not everyone can see opportunities. I believe This is a quote from John D Rockefeller in 1941. It's found on the plaque in front of Rockefeller's plaza which I happened to chanced upon. Gives a little insight into what would be the world's richest man if he had still been alive.- I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness;- I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty;- I believe that the law was made for man and not man for the law; that government is the servant of the people and not their master;- I believe in the dignity of labour, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living;- I believe that thrift is essential to well ordered living and that economy is a prime requisite of a sound financial structure, whether in government, business or personal affairs;- I believe that truth and justice are fundamental to an enduring social order;- I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man's word should be as good as his bond; that character - not wealth or power or position - is of supreme worth;- I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of mankind and that only in the purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross of selfishness consumed and the greatness of the human soul set free;- I believe in an all-wise and all-loving God, named by whatever name, and that the individual's highest fulfilment, greatest happiness and widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with His will;- I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; that it alone can overcome hate; that right can and will triumph over might. Podcast perfection: Businessweek podcasts Businessweek.com has one of the best podcasts in the world right now. Just check out the 5 star ratings on iTunes.I've a couple of hundred BW podcasts in my iPod that I listen every time I commute to work. So much so that the time I spend listening to these podcasts is more than that of what I spend on music.What makes these podcasts work is because they have personalities. They are character based. The same reason that made the Mr Brown Show podcasts so popular.Let me take my favourite podcast title of all, Behind The Cover (BTC). BTC is a weekly podcast that takes readers behind the scenes of the cover story. Chief executive editor John Byrne talks with the writer/s who wrote the cover story.Each podcast is about 10 to 20 minutes. The discussion will touch on how they approach the story and their personal opinion on the topics. You literally go behind the scenes with the writers. You get to know how they tackle their stories. What difficulties they have to surmount and things that they wanted to put on the magazine but can't because of space. Each week, different writers will talk on the podcast, bringing with their their personality on air.At the end of the podcast, you'll get a clear picture of what happens behind all the story gathering to make up what you see on the magazine. Although you'll probably never see these people in real life, but after the podcast, you will feel as though you have met them.BW has managed, through the podcast, to break down the barrier of mystery that surrounds the news making industry. But that's not to say that they reveal all the secrets of their trade. But other media companies can definitely learn something useful from them. Pony tailed CEO has a blog Of all the CEOs I know, not personally of course, there's only one with a pony tail. That's Sun Microsystem's CEO for you, Jonathan Schwartz. He happens to be the only CEO who blogs, as far as I know. I found the link from Wikinomics, a book which I finished reading months ago.Interestingly and coincidentally, his latest entry is on how the issues surrounding the print media and software companies.I find it pretty remarkable for someone of such a high status in the corporate ladder be doing something like blogging. Isn't blogging for the hip and trendy younger folks? And you're a businessman, you'll immediately ask the value of blogging, from a CEO's perspective.Blogging is actually just another medium to communicate to readers. When you're a CEO, you can categorise your readers into different segments. Very noticeably, the two main segments will be your own employees and the public.Schwartz obviously is using his blog to be more accessible more personal to his employees. Sun is a large company with close to 35,000 employees. There's no way that people will know how the CEO is like or what he's thinking or more importantly, understand the actions he takes.That's where the blog come in. Employees who read the blog will be able to identify his ideology. They will know at least which direction the company is heading towards and the plans he has for the company in the future. When you're down in the trenches, you will want your employees to know where to go.The other advantage is you get to find out how your readers feel. You can also gain insights to ideas replied as comments by readers. Granted that you won't know who the readers are since they are anonymous, but at least you can see generally which camps the readers are coming from. 'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says I came across this great article while searching for CEO blogs online. No, Steve Jobs doesn't blog. This is the commencement address at Standford University in 2005 where Steve Jobs told 3 short stories about himself. Saving Time With RSS And Readers RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Basically, it gathers news feeds in the form of title and content. No ads or other unnecessary stuff that usually take up more space than the content itself.RSS saves time by giving you all the headlines with short accompanying summaries. It's all the news in one page. RSS has been around for years and many websites have RSS links that you can bookmark.Just look for the keywords "RSS" and "Feeds" on the web pages. Another way to tell if the page has RSS is to look at the address bar for a small icon on the right. Depending on the browser, it might look different or don't even have it. Below are how it would look on Firefox and Safari.There are many RSS readers available on the Internet for free.I'm using Google Reader because it loads from the website. That means I can use Google Reader anywhere where there's Internet. Also, I have a Google account.There's nothing like keeping up with the news in seconds. Book Review: What Really Matters This is no doubt one of the best business book I've read this year. Even after reading the first chapter, I knew I had to give it 5 stars.John Pepper is the ex-CEO of P&G from 1995 to 1999. He is now the chairman of the board at Walt Disney Company and a CEO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.As you can see from the cover, the book talks on service, leadership, people and values. Throughout the book, you'll be be presented with never ending life experiences from John Pepper over his 40 over years of service in P&G.The book is divided into three parts, Foundations for Success, Staying in the Lead and How We Live Our Lives.In the first part, he talked on the principles behind brand building. He drew on numerous examples to make his point.For the second part, he touched on how P&G was involved in community building and the important role it played for the company.In the last part, it was about management in general and how he lead his company and what he learned during the years at P&G.Even though you may not have worked for P&G, after reading the book, you will have a very thorough understanding of the guiding principles of P&G.This book is available at the library. I borrowed mine from the Bukit Batok branch.There are other reviews on amazon.com. Stop Making Fun Of Us Some interesting advertising copy that's floating in cyberspace. Steve Jobs 1982 Source: http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0712/y_walker08.htmlThis is so cool. Cost of a Body During Reservist (Illustration sourced from Flickr)My reservist is next week and let's just say that I'm not looking forward to it.I can imagine time burning away like it's worthless, which it really is during reservist.Do you know how much a body cost during reservist?When you're serving your 2 years worth of compulsory national service, the total cost of your time isn't that much. It doesn't really hurt the economy when you're not working at 18 years old. Unless you're telling me that you're a lawyer at that time during thousands per month in salary.So let's just say that the cost of time for a guy of 18 years old is around an average of $10 per day. I'm assuming the guy is still studying. The cost of time for that guy for two years is $7300. That's a negative $7300 on the economy. It they serve 3 years instead of 2 years, it would total to around $10000.Now let's look at recalling a working adult back for reservist. On average, I'll take it that they are making $100 per day for the economy. Let's just note that there are people who make much less than that but there are also lawyers being recalled back to clean toilets.So a two weeks worth of reservist would be a total $1400 cost on the economy.How many lower cost healthy bodies can you exchange for with $1400? Well, around 140 bodies, or 1 body for 140 days.Which is a drain on the economy? Which is more cost effective to protect the nation?The answer is very clear.-------------------------Update: 9 May 2008After posting something similar at a local online forum, I've finally found the answer why reservist is needed. Somehow it eluded me that if reservist training is done away, we'll have 2.5 years worth of soldiers. With reservist training, we have over 12 years of soldiers.Now go calculate how many hours of manpower that is. Menu highlight gone, again My menu highlight is gone, again.Really have to partition my harddisk already.OSX starting to behave like Windows OS.End is near. Flickr video isn't so bad. It's clear! Startup School An event hosted by one of my favourite business companies, Y CombinatorWarning: there are some audio glitchesWatch live video from HackerTV on Justin.tv Art in Pixelation This actually looks pretty good.Source: http://www.moroso.it/ Vista SP1 Music Video Mind blowing. Telcom destroyer coming soon Story source: iPhone gets VoIP and chat options thanks to FringThis is precisely the type of functionality that I predicted the first time the iPhone was revealed by Steve Jobs. The ability to use VoIP to make free phone calls over Wifi.Don't worry, this is not Armageddon for telecommunications company. Armageddon will come when you don't have to hack your iPhone to get VoIP.It will come in the form of the web browser.Be afraid. Be very afraid. Student yearbook with a twist Some 'mad' man redrew his mom's yearbook.All the classes. All. Book Review: Founders at Work Ever wonder what goes on in the minds of entreprenuers when they are just starting out? With this book, you literally go into the trenches with this entreprenuers. Because of the interview style format the book is in, all the raw details are there. It's like sitting with the founder in the same room. You'll feel the anxiety when they are looking for funding. You'll share their joy on their first IPO. Their enthusiasm literally seeps through the pages. This book is as close to creating a startup yourself. Seriously. It's that good. The book focuses mainly on technology related companies though. I like technology related companies. Illustrator tip: Releasing clipping mask releases all I want to highlight something that might happen if you're not careful about clipping masks.Let me use the graphic I did recently as an example. In the image below, I have used a clipping mask (Ctrl + 7) to "crop" the graphic to fit onto the page.Let's zoom in on Tevez's eyes. This image below, is the zoomed in version from the first image. The eyes are fine here.But this happens (below) when you choose to release the clipping mask on the whole illustration.When I make this mistake, it's not good. I would release the clipping mask because I want to conveniently move some groups of stuff and re-clip back the objects. But I would forget that there are small areas where I've previously clipped. In the end, these areas don't get clipped back.That leaves me with ball flight lines that should be under the goal post BUT instead appear above the goal post. That's a major factual error, obviously!To solve this, I've changed to using opacity mask instead. It's safer. But the compromise is you can't move the clipping object easily with your direct selection tool.The eye white (1) is my clipping object. The pupil (2) is my object to be clipped. In opacity mask terms, the eye white is the masking object.To use opacity mask, I simply selected the eye white, copy (Ctrl+C) and pasted one in front (Ctrl+F) and push the mask up to the front (Shift + Ctrl + ]). Then I selected it and the pupil together, clicked on the transparency palette options (round button with right putting triangle), chose Make Opacity Mask.Depending on what colour of your masking object is, you have to check or uncheck the Invert Mask checkbox.In my case, the masking object is white in colour and I've unchecked Invert Mask